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Show 1 liC i -i'lfj ' -f', "J '' A i '? ' i ' '::fJ1 7 )T lU,: ,3': 'i r Wilderness camping is one way to see Arches National Nation-al Park. Aerial tours or guided 4-wheel-drive excursions available from nearby Moab tour operators are others. Utah Rich in National Parks and Monuments; Recent Additions Add to that Number With only 36 national parks in the United States most states are glad to have just one and consider themselves fortunate to have two. With the recent addition of Capitol Reef National Park and Arches Ar-ches National Park, Utah now has five all of them within with-in an easy half-day's drive of each other and all located in the Southern third of the state. ; All located on the enormous enorm-ous Western land province called the Colorado Plateau, these national parks are tributes trib-utes to erosion. But there are more differences in these parks than similarities. Bryce Canyon National Park, for instance, sits on top of the 8,000 ft. forested Paunsaugunt Plateau where temperatures rarely reach 85 degrees even in July. At Bryce the erosion process is delicate. Here thousands of spires, pinnacles and turrets have been intricately carvtd out of the soft pink Wasatch limestone. Despite its name, Bryce Canyon National Park isn't located in a canyon at all. It's a series of breaks or cliffs cut out of 14 amphitheatres amphi-theatres along the edge of the Paunsaugunt. Granted national park status sta-tus in 1928, Bryce is most easily accessible by driving 10 miles south of Panguitch on U. S. 89, then turning east on State Route 12, the road that leads into the park. Zion National Park is the counterpart of Bryce. Where Bryce exhibits delicate erosion eros-ion patterns, Zion displays massive canyon walls. At 8,000 feet, Bryce is cool while Zion, at the 4,000 ft level, is in warmer climes. At Bryce visitors look down from the lip of the plateau. In Zion they gaze up at 2,000 ft. high canyon walls of red sandstone. Zion is about 50 air miles southwest of Bryce. From U. The family car can easily be driven to many of the park's major attractions on a system of paved and graded roads. S. 89 Zion is reached by turning west onto S. R. 15 at , the Mt. Carmel Junction. S.lt. 15 runs through Zion National Nation-al Park on its way to join Interstate 15 north of St. George.. For 36 years Bryce and Zion were Utah's only national nat-ional parks. Then in 1964, at the urging cf many who had . visited southeastern Utah, the government decreed that the quarter million acre expanse of the Canyonlands country should also be protected. Canyonlands is undoubtedly one of the most rugged of all the national parks. It's not a place where man can easily build roads (so far there are two) at will. In fact, San Juan County, the county in which most of Canyonlands National Park is located and a land area larger than Connecticut!, Con-necticut!, Deleware and Rhode Island, had the first paved road built into one of its major ma-jor towns in 1955. Cbviously, Mo'Jier Nature didn't design this part of Utah to suit man's whims. Instead she created endless mazes of red rock gorges and canyons that wind crazily for miles only to end abruptly at sheer thousand foot cliffs. She set the Green and Colorado Rivers Riv-ers on a course through the park that insured their union right in the middle. And, like a fickle woman, she sent the rivers flowing placidly for miles at a stretch only to break the lull with a series of wild, churning rapids. Moab. Monticello and Blan-ding, Blan-ding, all located along U. S. 163 are good places to set up headquarters for exploration : of Canyonlands. Visitors should bear in mind that this is an explorer's park. The only way in to the remote areas is on foot, horse or jeep. There are, however, a number of visitor opportunity ies in the Island in the Sky Continued on Page A7 .O Delta Wtf-fwanti -VU 4mSr el 1 Castle DaieT ) if r FiHmoreX f iGreen Riveir f M . (24) - If I M H M03 (n ft . .'Hanksvi!le . , VfVV Beaver I fu mf Cauyoniandsfciht- i w I W Junction . ''Y ' -...a. fyjy (ijp J Mf I ice,iok f "Tv Csc3!.?nte .... L f ,,,'"vC :''"V-n ',,1MVl Kai'iabjji Mm" " Utah National Parks . . .' ! Cotitimu-tl lioin Vnro At! s. ctiou ot the '. iik tor im I;':-; in j.,sSiT:vr ears, :ui.l guul.'S arc a '.able lot' .1 ' i .Kher : ( :ioiis IV o miles north of Moao is .Veins N.'.tunal Park, em' of It. ill's two ('.'.:!'. Ic.-tui ing the greatest i.rei:,'-i:-!'. ot natural arched in du-.V du-.V ,-M. Ninety hne boon d -i ,)vi :l so tar tn:t local Moab l'f -ui . ti : s are sere there are r'vrs as o: tmtonnd ii the r. !,:;' ,1 tuck country. is a p.u k with six iY".io!i'', eaih with its own i'i.s..'i:al terms caned on! el .a .i and I ' r, : r . 1, i . i (:,!; ,m- Osv m cl .on of la.' ( a ! I' .s .,1 ehes of a ! !:.sjv while another hoasts s. ! il sand-gone cainons up to le, t high and precarious V balanced slabs of rook rest-ii rest-ii ;', 011 narrow ooUar.ns that s: 1 I i:'.;'ly shouldn't he ah! to carry the weight alntve. fan; 1, 1 i;a.f is l lali's til It national park. Hero the mam aoeess is via S.U. 21, a road lit. it jo. ns Interstate 70 jnst west of tin en Kiver, or II. S. !!!) about It) miles north cf liielilield. Park headiuarters lor this (juarter million acre sett in;: nre located in Print a along with a restaurant, 1110-tol 1110-tol and lcd;;o. Two special areas in the park arc Capitol (huge ui the Water PiK-kct Pold province pro-vince of the park's southern extension and Catliodral 'a!-Icy 'a!-Icy in the northern area of the park. The Water Pocket Fold extension is no samcil for a great folding over of the earth's crust. Over I'oru of time wind and water created cre-ated giant pot-holes in the area some big enough for a man to take a leisurely swim. Capitol Gorge is a narrow canyon that cuts dir. cctly through this fantastic area about eight miles south of Park Service headquarters. Cathedral Valley is an area of giant stone castles juttint; up from a picturesque valley floor. Utah's five national parks offer unlimited scenic variety. var-iety. They exist for everyone to enjoy and they're all wi'.h-in wi'.h-in easy access in southern Utah's erodi-d plateau country. |
